Wooden aging barrel



April je, 1943.

Ffy- 2 1b Patented Apr. 6, 1943 UNiTED ENT 2 Claims.

This invention relates to wooden whisky aging barrels, i. e. barrels ofthe character employed for aging spiritous liquors such as Whiskey.During the manufacture of such barrels, the heads are fabricated to sizeand shape, machinedto provide the bead and bevels, charred on one sideand thereafter cooled and stored for use as needed, while the cylinder,after being initially formed and hooped, is charred on the inside andthen machined to provide the howels, crozes and chimes. The ends of thecylinder are then closed by the heads and additional hoops provided totighten the `cylinder around the heads and thus complete the manufactureof the barrel. Since the closing and tightening operations are performedwhile the cylinder is still hot from the charring operation, .the charheat causes the air within the barrel to expand, normally creating achar pressure of 6 to 8 pounds.

Despite the tightness of the barrel, considerable loss of whiskey isoccasioned, during aging, by evaporation, leakage and the like. Thisloss, or outage as it is usually called, approximates as much as 20% ofthe initial contents of the barrel during an aging period of four years.That portion of the overall outage, which occurs around the end jointwhere the bead of the head fits into the croze of the cylinder, isherein designated end-joint outage. It is occasioned primarily by theleakage of whiskey through crevices and cracks in the wood at the endJoint, and secondarily by the seepage and diffusion of whiskey and itsvapors through the pores and along the grain of the wood around the endjoint. Since end-joint outage approximates as much as one-fifth of theoverall outage, attempts have heretofore been made to eliminate it bycoating the outer bevel of the head and the outer howel and chimes ofthe cylinder with various sealers but they have not been entirelysatisfactory I have discovered that end-joint outage may besubstantially reduced, if not entirely eliminated, by providing asuitable sealer on the inside of the barrel and causing such sealer topenetrate and seal the cracks, crevices and pores of the wood formingthe inner-joint surface, i. e., the bead and inner-bevel surfaces of thehead and the croze and inner-bowel surfaces of the cylinder, and suchforms the principal object of my invention. Y

Another important object of the invention is to provides. novel methodof sealing a wooden aging barrel against end-Joint outage, which methodcan be practised during, and as an incident of, the regularbarrel-manufacturing process without complicating such process ormaterially increasing its expense.

.A further object is to provide a sealing method which utilizes the charheat and pressure to eifect the penetration of a previously appliedsealer.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary section of the head of a wooden aging barrel;

Figure Z is a fragmentary section of one end of a barrel cylinder; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section showing the relation of the head andcylinder with the invention applied.

The invention is illustrated as applied to one end of a wooden agingbarrel which is conventional in that it comprises the` usual head I,having outer and inner bevels 2 and 3 terminating in a peripheral bead4, and cylinder 5, having a chime 6 and outer and inner howels 1 and 8separated by a croze 9. So far as the present invention is concerned,these parts may bevmanufactured and assembled in the convenltional way.When assembled, the bead of the suitable sealing material is applied toall or a suitable portion of the inner-joint surface, prior to theassembly of the barrel, and upon assembly, the sealer is subjected to a.pressure within the barrel which forces it to penetrate and ll thecracks, crevices and pores of the wood forming the inner-joint surfaceand thereby effectively seal the barrel against end-joint outage.

While any of a variety of .well-known sealing materials, which do notreact unfavorably with whiskey, may be employed, the use is preferred ofa normally solid impervious sealer, having a. low melting. point, i. e.-a melting-point below the char heat temperatures normally encounteredduring the manufacturing process but above the barrel and whiskeytemperatures normally encountered during the aging process. A Wax, suchas paramn, appears to be ideally suited for use as a sealer in thepractice of the present invention. Various resins and resinous subsstances may also be employed.

desired way, it is only necessary to apply it to the head, and suchapplication is preferred because of the ease and rapidity with which itmay be accomplished. For example, when the head is completely formed, itmay be rolled through a shallow layer of molten parailln (not shown) inf a tilted manner such as to coat the bead 4 and part or all of theinner bevel 3. Upon hardening, the wax will form a thin solid film l0 asindicated in Figure 1.

When a coated head is assembled into a barrel, the cylinder of which iscold, it will be necessary to apply sufficient heat to melt the sealerand,

upon melting and subsequent hardening, an yeffective seal will result.The seal, however, may be greatly improved by creating a pressure withinthe barrel while the sealer is in a liquid condition so as to cause thesealer to penetrate the crevices, cracks and pores of the innerjointsurface before hardening. In this way, the sealer extends from theinner-joint surface into the openings of the wood forming such surfacein a pressure-packed condition. In the usual barrel manufacturingprocess, where the barrel parts are assembled while the cylinder isstill hot from the charring operation, the ch'ar" heat and pressure willordinarily be amply sufficient to effect the melting of the sealer andits penetration into the inner-joint surface. The normal surfacedistribution of thesealer and the normal depth and area of itspenetration into the wood is indicated by the shadingA Illa in Figure 3.Where, however, the head and cylinder contain one or more large pores orcrevices, as indicated at I0 and Il, which extend through or into thenormal penetration area, the sealer will usually flow into and alongsuch pores and crevices to anA appreciable degree. In fact, sealerexcrescences have been observed on the outer bevel of the head and thechimes of the cylinder indicating that the char pressure has forced thesealer along some particular path completely through the full-thicknessof the wood. If the char pressure is insulllcie'nt or lost, it should besupamavisy plemented or replaced by gas or air pressure supplied fromany suitable outside source.

As the barrel cools, the sealer hardens ultivmately resulting in a solidimpervious seal which not only fills the cracks and crevices of theinnerjoint surface but extends well into the pores and along the grainof the wood. As will be evident, a seal of this character willsubstantially reduce, if not entirely prevent, the escape of whiskey orits vapors through the area embraced by the seal and thus practicallyeliminate end-joint outage. It will also beA evident that the cost ofapplying the lseal is negligible, while the mode of application does notinterfere with or complicate routine manufacturing practice.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

l. An improvement in the process of manufacturing wooden whiskey agingbarrels having an inner joint surface where a head is jointed into thecylinder comprising: lipplying a normally solid sealer having a lowmelting point to the inner-joint surface of the heads before they arejointed into the cylinder; and, after the heads are jointed into thecylinder, subjecting the sealer to heated fluid under pressure, the heatbeing of an order suicient to melt the sealer and the pressure being ofan order sufficient to force the melted sealer into said inner-jointsurface.

below the char heat temperature, whereby the char heat is sufcient tomelt the sealer and the "char pressure is sufficient to force the meltedsealer into said inner-jointsurface.

FRANK M. SHIPMAN.

